We start today away to Stevenage, we line up like this: -------------Cerny Marney-Davenport-Huddlestone-Jackson Lennon---Carrick----Tainio---Yeates ----------Kanoute--Keane
Half-Time:1-0 (Kanoute) 2nd Half team: (not sure about the formation) maybe a 4-3-3 or Reid in the centre with El Hamdaoui out wide or the other way round. -------------Fulop Kelly---Dawson--Bunjevcevic--Edman Routledge-Mendes-El Hamdaoui-Reid ----------Defoe-Mido Edited to the way i think we were playing
.....just got off the phone to my mate that's at the game. He's said that Lennon is having a blinder. Not that we can really take anything from this game as the oppostion isn't exactly all that. It's a shame Lennon came off.
Full-Time: 3-0 (Kanoute,44 min, Mido,67 & Defoe, 83) Huddlestone in new kit Thats a good start to pre-season, next game Boca Juniors next Saturday
Not a bad warm up. From the official site it didn't look like we had any defensive issues. With Tottenham off to the Peace Cup this week, who will be negotiating transfers. Or are we done?
Having seen the goals, the first and third ones were both down to lovely play by Lennon and Routledge. Nice to have wingers with pace for a change! Hope they will make a difference to our away form and results against the bottom teams. Need that direct dribbling to open teams up and make space for the forwards. Mido looks a lot thinner, I do hope he stays that away and convinces the club to keep him. Could become a legend if he gives 100%.
A lot of the users on THBN said that when we broke into the Stevenage half, Spurs didn't know what to do with the ball. That is the problem we had last season. We need an attacking midfielder.
I heard Huddlestone was impressive playing at centre back, lot of comments about how strong he looked. Looking forward to seeing him at the Peace cup. I think we can genuinely field two teams which are strong as each other. Good sign for the strength of the squad, but we are lacking another standout player or two. A prime Ginola would be perfect for us.
We all know that the top players won't be coming to the lane this year. Are there not any decent players in Ginola's mold that we can purchase that aren't world class (or viewed in that status)? Ginola wasn't viewed as WC when he joined, but Francis knew what skill he had. For those of you that have watch Rosicky in action, do you think he could do the job?
I think Tainio, Lennon and Routledge can become those outstanding players for us. Apparantly Lennon was the star of the show in Saturday.
...I hate to say it, but I feel only the presence of a foreigner (not the 80's group) with a sort-of-big name can inspire the centre of our midfield.
View from the opposition; http://www.stevenageborofc.com/content/reports0506/spurs_home_psf_200506.shtml
Cannot wait for the season to start. Cannot wait to see Routledge and Lennon tearing it up. Nearly forgot that we also have Reid and Ziegler. Carrick will step up and the forwards will get on with banging in the goals and stop moaning about rotation. My prediction: Souness to be sacked before Robinson lets any goals in
hehehehe......you may be right. They can't attract anyone up there. Parker joined the barcodes because they were willing to match his £55,000 p/week contract. No other reason. Is it me, or is the transfer market a bit dead this season?
Meh, I disagree. With the pace we'll have from Lennon and Routledge, and the experience of Tainio I think we'll be fine. I can see us picking up another class player before the summer is out but even if we don't I'm not worried. I think we've got a good enough midfield, and a squad that can adapt to just about any formation or tactics.
Yeah, we have such a bloated squad it urgently needs trimming. The amount of central midfielders we have is crazy: Mendes, Carrick, Brown, Davis, Tainio, Huddlestone. And we're looking at bringing in one more! I think we can if we sell at least one player at the same time. That said, the quality is good. There's enough quality and the wingers are gonna excite evryone this year. Reid/Ziegler on the left and Routledge/Lennon on the right. Hopefully Stalteri and Ziegler will offer cover for Edman and Stalteri can also back-up Kelly or vice versa. And of course centre-back is looking well-stocked: King, Naybet, Dawson, Davenport and Huddlestone. With the transfer market in the doldrums it probably makes sense to keep a lot of the cash we've accumulated in the hope that someone top quality becomes available to us in future. Top players are still over-priced while the rest typically aren't good enough
I agree that Stalteri will be given the nod at the start of the season. He better keep his form though because I doubt Jol will have a long think about putting Kelly in the team quickly if he doesn't.
I disagree, i think Kelly will start the season as right back because he will have more time in pre-season. Stalteri is injured at the moment and is not on the trip to South Korea.
That is a fair point. It's Kelly's chance to cement his place. If Staltieri was fit IMO he would start. So w/o any natural threat to the postion, and Kelly continues on with the impressive form; he may very hard to push out. I really think we'll see a settled side this season, even seeing MJ settle on a front two (Mido?Defoe) and keep them together for awhile. This is now his team, and his season.
I am very sure that Mido will play a massive part this season. Expect us to sign him permanently if he does. A friend of mine, Omar (Egyptian Journalist) has told me all about the big boy Ahmed. He is adamant that he is world class, a fact that will be shown to all SPurs fans this season. After the chat, I must say that my hopes are rising pretty steadily.
He does look a lot fitter now, hopefully Defoe and Mido can work on their partnership this pre-season. Mido himself has said he is not the hot head he was in the past since his son was born, he is still only young, Defoe and Mido are 22 so they could have a long time together.
There was very strong talk that he was history after the Mauritius trip. So he must have made a really big impression when he came back, certainly he looks a lot more lean and in-shape. I really hope he keeps his head together, if he does he has superb talent and will be a top player.